1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a composite insert. The present invention also relates to a method for manufacturing a thermoplastic device having a plug cavity.
2. Description of the Related Art
The “2K direct extrusion coating” technique is known in more recent sensor generations in the automobile sector. An electronic system of the sensor makes contact with inserts in a separate manufacturing station, these inserts simultaneously forming plug-in contacts. A composite made up of a sensor and an insert (composite insert) is enclosed using an elastomer shell and then extrusion-coated using thermoplastic material with the aid of a forming tool. In order to ensure trouble-free operation of the sensor, a sensor element must be situated in a precisely defined position within the overall sensor.
Extrusion-coating with thermoplastic material may exert high forces on the composite insert, possibly causing deflections of the plug-in contacts and thus deviations from the target position. Although a specific design of the composite insert may in principle reduce the deflection of the composite insert, the plug area generally constitutes a weak point of a sensor manufactured in such a way.
A housing having a metallic insert is known from published German patent application document DE 10 2006 062 311 A1, the metallic insert being at least partially enclosed by the housing. An electrically non-conducting enclosure directly and at least partially encloses the metallic insert.